What does it feel like to be ahead of your time?

Almost 6 years ago when my dear friend from Bangalore, Anil Ananathkrishnan, the brilliant electric vehicles designer, sent me the present of an "electric scooter", it was the first one to ht the shores of Europe.

When I drove it around, I sort of visualised how the picture would pan out in the years ahead.

Europe's first Electric Scooter - FinnScoot.
A present to me from Anil.


The dashboard of the scooter.


The soundless direct drive which gives
100% power transmission.


A rare shot of me driving my electric scooter
near our home.

One of my predictions, at that time, was that supermarkets would have parking places where one would be able to recharge the electric batteries.

Yesterday evening, I drove into the Stockmann Department store parking garage under the store. As I drove around look for a parking slot, I saw a strange blue light in a couple of parking slots. As one of these slots was empty, I parked my jalopy and went to examine what was the blue light atop a green pillar.


An electric charging point.


Close up of the charging point

It is the first charging slot for electric vehicles. One can just plug in the vehicle when one is shopping.

My vision is now a reality!

As yet, this charging is not going to attract any fee, and it is included in the parking fee.

But do not expect that to last for long. As soon as the "financial managers" start to look at what it can do for the bottom line, we are going to see the charges introduced.

From 2004, Anil's Electric Scooters have come a long way. I had the good fortune to see his latest models, including the EV 60 Elektric, while I was in Bangalore in October 2009. It was just fabulous. Very comfortable compared to the earlier models. It is a 1878 Watts, 60 Volts Electric Scooter - Two Seater. It is wonderful to see how far they have progressed.

The models still to be released looked very exciting.

Considering that I gave Anil, and his lovely wife, Lalitha, the name of their company "Eko Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.", I am really happy to see the company doing so well.

My only hope is that Anil hands over marketing and sales to some enterprising dynamic company, while he puts his efforts into research and development, as India is fortunate to have such a wonderful brain at its disposal.

If you are interested in getting a scooter with a special JM discount, let me know and I will see you get a scooter directly from the factory.

Trust me, it is a super vehicle and Anil's deals are really great. It is a BEST BUY anywhere in the world!

But as the saying goes "A great man is recognised last in his own home."